The Arlington, Va., bishop blessed
the new facility on its second day of operation.

“This pharmacy is a vibrant example
of our Holy Father’s charge to wear our faith in the public square,” said the
bishop. “It will allow families to shop in an environment where their faith is
not compromised.”

Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy refuses
to dispense contraceptives. Pharmacists for Life International certified it as
a pro-life pharmacy — the seventh in the nation — and said hundreds of others
probably pursue a pro-life policy without that certification.

Nonprofit ‘Ministry’

The pharmacy is run as a nonprofit
“ministry.” Although the facility is not directly affiliated with the Catholic
Church, local parishes have been helpful in trying to assure its success, said
Bob Laird, executive director of Divine Mercy Care, the nonprofit entity that
owns the pharmacy and Tepeyac Family Center, a pro-life obstetrics-gynecology
practice that was founded 14 years ago in nearby Fairfax.

Some 50,000 Catholics live in the
area around Chantilly, which is close to Dulles International Airport. Located
in a strip mall with two other pharmacies, Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy is
counting on drawing the faithful.

“We see people coming unusual
distances, even 10 miles away, because we are
pro-life,” explained Laird, a retired nuclear engineer for the Army and father
of five who served as the family life director of the Arlington Diocese.
“Normally, clients will not drive more than two miles from home for a
pharmacy.”

By drawing a dedicated clientele,
the business can make up for the financial loss of not filling contraceptive
prescriptions, which constitutes about 10% of a typical pharmacy’s business.

Divine Mercy Care is also guided by
Church teaching on the essential dignity of each person and the need to help
the poor. It subsidizes the cost of prescriptions for the elderly and the
needy.

“We have three main tenets guiding
this business and a related pro-life family medical practice: first, to run a
good business, excellent in all ways; second, to be faithful to the Catholic
Church; and third, to feed the poor,” said Laird.

He continued, “All three are
important and done simultaneously. We don’t wait to make money and then help
the poor, for example.”

Divine Mercy Care is the “funding
engine” for both entities, Laird noted. “Charity cases receive full service
like anyone else. Then, the pharmacy and practice bill Divine Mercy Care, which
works to raise money for this need.”

Other
pro-life pharmacies around the country are typically run as small businesses.

Kay
Pharmacy in Grand Rapids, Mich., one of the certified pro-life pharmacies, has
been in Mike Koelzer’s family since 1945. “My grandfather, then my father, ran
it, but I’m the one who made the decision in 2002 to stop selling
contraceptives, against my father’s wishes,” said Koelzer.

Although
his father, too, was a practicing Catholic, he did not think their religion
should influence their business, according to Koelzer. “It was ironic, because
my father is my mentor in faith, but on this issue, we disagreed,” he said.
“I’m thankful he eventually gave me his support.

“As
a pharmacist, I knew there were about 10% of my clients using contraceptive
products for non-contraceptive reasons. So was I going to interrogate people to
decide who I could sell to? It became a business decision to simply pull those
products off my shelves, instead of spending a lot of time deciding how to
distribute them,” Koelzer concluded.

He
said it was a relief to become a pro-life pharmacy: “It was such a weight off
my shoulders. It gave me such peace.”

Although
there are about 100 pharmacies within a 10-mile radius, Koelzer’s experience
proves that going pro-life does not have a negative impact: His business has
grown to 25 employees.

Increasingly,
Koelzer is speaking around the country on creating successful pro-life
businesses as part of his “pro-life pharmacy apostolate” (online at
ProLifePharmacy.com).

Promoting Life

But
not all pharmacists who express pro-life commitments have had positive
experiences. Neil Noesen was reprimanded by the state of Wisconsin after he
refused to fill a college-age woman’s prescription for birth control pills
while working at a Kmart pharmacy there in 2002.

A
state appeals court upheld the sanctions against Noesen earlier this year, requiring
him to take a continuing education class on ethics.

“Wisconsin
is not a ‘free state,’ because pharmacists have no choice regarding filling
contraceptive prescriptions,” said Noesen, who moved to Illinois as a result of
his ordeal. He now works in a pharmacy that allows him to follow his
conscience. “I hope we see more demand for pro-life pharmacies, which is a very
exciting development,” he said.

Sylvia
Dorham, a Catholic mother of eight who attended the Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy
opening, is thrilled to have the new facility available.

“Being
a pro-life person, I want to have pro-life health care and not have to be
standing in line behind someone who is getting a product that might be harming
a child: for example, the morning-after pill.”

Dorham
is involved with Pro-Health Natural Fertility, an organization that seeks to
start pro-life medical practices in the Baltimore area and elsewhere.
Supporters are collecting signatures from Catholic women in order to
demonstrate to potential pro-life doctors that there’s a market for such
practices.

“This
is such a noble concept. Seeing this pharmacy up and running, filled with
children, attended by a bishop wearing his miter, I was filled with happiness.
It’s a great example of the divine meeting the practical.”

Victor Gaetan is based

in Washington,
D.C.

INFORMATIONPro-Life Pharmacies For more information, check out:
• PFLI.org is the website for Pharmacists for Life International;
certified pro-life pharmacies are listed on the site.
• DMCPharm.com describes Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy, its products and
services.
• KayPharmacy.com is the site for the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based pro-life
pharmacy.
• ProLifePharmacy.com is an advocacy website run by pharmacist and
speaker Mike Koelzer.

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